


it's halloween (and we can be anything)

by upriserseven



Category: Teenage Bounty Hunters (TV)
Genre: April Centric, F/F, Halloween, april and blair best bros for life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-29
Updated: 2020-10-29
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:14:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,947
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27257755
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/upriserseven/pseuds/upriserseven
Summary: “I don’t usually do anything for Halloween. It’s not that big a deal.” It’s all rushed out in one breath, and she’s hoping that Sterling will pick up on that (and the fact that April can’t look her in the eye) and realise this isn’t something April wants to talk about.(Or, the incredibly true story of how April Stevens avoided Halloween and why.)
Relationships: April Stevens/Sterling Wesley
Comments: 11
Kudos: 181





	it's halloween (and we can be anything)

**Author's Note:**

> I told myself I wasn't going to write TBH fic, but here we are. Basically: read a post of Halloween fic prompts, started thinking about J*hn St*vens not letting his daughter celebrate Halloween, had a breakdown over it and then wrote this. Bon appetit.
> 
> Title from Phoebe Bridgers ~~(because I'm sad and gay.)~~

When April is almost eleven, Sterling looks at her like she just said she’s switching allegiance and becoming a Katy Perry fan. 

“What do you mean?” It’s never really been a problem before, because none of April’s other friends have ever cared much about it, or she was always able to make a reasonable excuse, but then again, none of her other friends have ever been quite like Sterling, and April finds herself completely unable to lie to her for some reason. 

“I don’t usually do anything for Halloween. It’s not that big a deal.” It’s all rushed out in one breath, and she’s hoping that Sterling will pick up on that (and the fact that April can’t look her in the eye) and realise this isn’t something April wants to talk about. And Sterling is smart but she’s also so, so oblivious sometimes and truthfully it’s probably the only thing that a nearly eleven-year-old April doesn’t like about her. 

“Of course it’s a big deal! Halloween is super fun, and we can think of matching costumes maybe? Me, you and Blair.” 

“I don’t know, Sterl. I think maybe I’ll have to stay home. We might be busy or something.” 

“But-”

“That sucks, April. Maybe you can still sleep over this weekend though?” The word sucks is whispered but Sterling admonishes the language anyway. 

Blair and April have an odd kind of friendship, all things considered. They both love Sterling, so they’ve accepted that they’re going to have to spend time together. And it’s not like they don’t get along, but they would never choose each other’s company, and they definitely don’t spend time together without Sterling, probably never would. 

Which is why it’s maybe a little bit surprising that Blair is her saviour today. April tries not to be annoyed that Sterling, her _best friend_ , wasn’t picking up on her cues, and instead just be thankful that Blair is a little more observant than her sister.

“Yeah, I’ll ask my mom.” When April turns to try and silently thank Blair, she finds that her second favourite twin is already smiling at her, while Sterling sits between them pouting. 

  
————

  
It starts to become a bigger problem, when April is nearly thirteen. She’s not friends with Sterling any more, hasn’t been for about a year and a half, and last year she didn’t really have anyone she liked enough to even make excuses to. She’d been invited to a Halloween party, but it was Jessica’s and she didn’t feel the need to respond with anything more than a “no, thank you” when she refused to even take the tacky piece of card being thrust in her direction.

But this year, her classmates are all starting to become more interested in parties, and she would gladly ignore the whole thing if not for the fact that Hannah B was the host this time. And unfortunately for April, she actually likes Hannah B, so she’s not sure how to spend time with her at school and also dodge the subject of the party. She’s tried some of her best polite refusals, she’s given the lecture on how truly unhygienic bobbing for apples is, she’s tried simply saying she’s just not a Halloween fan, but none of it seems to work. Hannah B, though she may be one of April’s best friends, is even more clueless than Sterling Wesley was. 

April knows Hannah is inviting the Wesley twins, so she considers claiming she wouldn’t be caught dead at a party they were at, but there’s a voice in her head saying that Hannah, a sweet and loyal friend, would simply uninvite Sterling and Blair, and then April really wouldn’t be able to ditch. Besides, if she’s not allowed to have fun then maybe they should get to? Maybe not, but she won’t be having fun either way so it doesn’t really matter. 

She’s pulled out of her own thoughts when she hears Sterling ask who’s going to be there, and she can’t force herself to look at any of them, even when she hears Ezequiel make a pointed comment about how April hasn’t actually RSVP’d yet. 

“Well, yeah. April’s family have their own Halloween traditions, right Stevens?”

It’s Blair, again, staring directly at her with an almost conspiratorial look. April opens her mouth to speak but closes it again, immediately chastising herself for just how ridiculous that must’ve appeared. 

There’s a small chorus of “they do?” before Blair continues on, as if she’s not totally saving April’s skin.

“Duh. That’s why April never went trick or treating with us or anything. Didn’t you say that your family watches Halloween movies and stuff all together?”

“Uh, yeah. Yes. It’s weird, I know, but Halloween is sort of a family event in our house.” She looks at everyone except Sterling, because no matter what, she still can’t find it in herself to lie to her. 

“Oh. Okay. Well, maybe you can sleep over the weekend after? It won’t be Halloween anymore but we can still eat candy and hang out?”

“Sounds great, I’ll check with my mom.” 

April tries to seek out Blair’s gaze, find a way to show her appreciation, but the twins are too busy wrapped up in themselves (as always), and it’s the first time in a while, but April doesn’t feel any sadness or bitterness as she watches them. 

  
————

  
“There’s a huge haunted house opening up this weekend. Want to go?” 

April is nearly fifteen and Blair’s ‘the Stevens family take Halloween seriously’ story has (shockingly) worked pretty well for the last two years. Her classmates typically throw their parties on the day itself, so April has escaped relatively unscathed, and last year she avoided Ezequiel’s party the weekend after with a white lie about visiting her grandparents. 

This, though? This isn’t quite as easy. It’s not on the 31st, so she can’t use her fake family commitment to Halloween, and she mentioned less than ten minutes ago that she doesn’t have plans this weekend, so she needs to think quickly. 

She steadies herself and forces an eye roll. 

“I hate haunted houses. Why would I pay for someone to scream at me?”

April hopes it’ll be enough, hopes that Hannah and Ezequiel will take it for what it is. She’s perfectly happy to be seen as a buzzkill if it means she doesn’t have to have this conversation today. The older she gets, the shorter the year between each Halloween seems, and she feels like she starts dreading it earlier and earlier. 

“It’ll be fun. Besides, you’re not scared of anything, so maybe we can just enjoy watching everyone else get scared?”

It’s sweet, really, that Hannah has such faith that April isn’t afraid of anything. April thinks maybe she’s scared of more things than anyone else she knows, but maybe it’s comforting to know that she hides it well. (Maybe, just maybe, it’s actually sad that once again, even her best friends can’t really see her. But it’s probably for the best.) 

She’s trying to think of another excuse when Ezequiel speaks.

“Honestly, that’s why I’m going. I heard Luke is going with the Wesleys, I also heard that Sterling was so scared that she cried watching Hocus Pocus, so I want to see how well she handles this.”

“I cried at Hocus Pocus the first time I saw it, too.”

“No, Hannah. This was like, last year.”

April’s never actually seen Hocus Pocus, but she’s smart enough to know that she should scoff at this and act like it’s hilarious that Sterling would be afraid of it. 

“I’m not really feeling the Halloween spirit yet, to be honest.” It’s only the 24th, so she’s hoping they’ll buy that. “I don’t know, I don’t think I’m going to go. But you guys should!” 

Neither of them looks sure, but then Lorna walks by and Ezequiel is talking about how he heard she kissed like, five different boys at Hannah G’s birthday last week. April wants to remind him of what the Bible says about gossip, but she’s willing to let it slide just this once if it takes the attention off of her. 

  
————

  
The year April turns seventeen, nobody gets to celebrate Halloween, and there’s a small, selfish part of her that’s relieved that she won’t have to make excuses this year. As far as her friends are concerned, her Halloween tradition will be the same as always. 

She doesn’t have to lie, like she’s been doing for years. More importantly, she doesn’t have to see or hear about how Sterling is celebrating, or even think about what Sterling might be doing. 

She does have to stay home with her dad, but she hides away in her room and hopes that God understands why she’s thankful that Halloween is cancelled this year, despite the reason. 

  
————

  
She’s nearly eighteen, her dad isn’t around anymore, and she knows it’s awful but April can’t help but wonder if this is going to screw up her now-established Halloween excuse. Maybe she can spin it, say that the idea of celebrating Halloween this year is just too painful because it’s always been such a family event. 

Franklin is throwing a huge party this year, equal parts a celebration of their last high school Halloween, and a way to make up for the party nobody got to throw last year. It’s infuriating the way it dominates conversation in the halls from the end of September. 

Nobody really asks April if she’s going, and she knows that that’s fair based on the years of her rejecting invitations, teamed with the slight awkwardness some of her classmates still seem to feel around her after yet another Stevens scandal, but she can’t deny that it stings a little. This is the first time in her life that she could potentially celebrate, but now nobody cares if she’s there or not. 

Hannah and Ezequiel send her selfies in their costumes before the party, and she finds herself actually watching other people’s Instagram stories for the first time since she can remember. Blair and her new boyfriend are dressed as Spongebob and Sandy, and April can’t help but laugh at the way Blair insists on puffing up her cheeks in every picture. At first, she thinks maybe Sterling’s silence just means she’s learned her lesson about oversharing on social media, but then she realises that Sterling isn’t even at the party. And they’re something resembling friends now, having moved past some of the anger and weirdness that followed their very brief relationship last year (turns out that when your kind-of-ex’s sister texts you ‘I know you just broke her heart but Sterling got like, kidnapped. Come over.’, your priorities shift a little), but April doesn’t think they’re close enough to friends that she has a right to question what Sterling is doing instead, so she doesn’t. 

She’s debating whether or not to finally watch Hocus Pocus for the first time, when her phone vibrates next to her. 

**_  
Sterling Wesley:_ **  
_I'm watching horror movies  
_ _parents left money for pizza_  
_do you want to come over?_

  
And they’re almost friends, but she’s not sure if they’re friends like this yet. She mostly avoids spending time alone with Sterling, if she’s honest, because she still hasn’t mastered the art of Not Thinking About Kissing Sterling. So she’s gotten used to hanging out with Blair again, and sometimes it’s like she’s eleven, tolerating her friend’s twin because she has to. Other times, maybe, she’s hyper aware that Sterling isn’t just her friend anymore, that Blair is not technically Sterling’s twin, that maybe she actually enjoys Blair’s company. That none of them are even remotely the people they were at eleven. 

So no, April’s not sure if they’re friends like this yet, but maybe they won’t ever get to be unless she takes steps. 

**_April:_ **  
_I can be there in 20 minutes_  
_IF you order me something with veggies?_

**_Sterling Wesley:_ **  
_okay but what if I don’t?_

**_April:_ **  
_Then enjoy your evening alone_  
_Being afraid that your house might be haunted :)_

**_Sterling Wesley:_ **  
_so now it’s MY fault I heard a scary noise?_  
_no but please be here in 20 minutes_  
_pretty please_

  
Somehow, Sterling is still terrified that April is a murderer when she rings the doorbell 25 minutes later, and April is almost angry at how completely adorable it is, so she just rolls her eyes and says something about murderers not ringing doorbells. She spent the whole drive over here wondering whether or not she should confess to Sterling that she’s never actually seen a horror movie, so she has no idea whether or not she’ll be scared, or how she’ll react. Sterling knows her secret, her biggest and most terrifying secret, but admitting this feels like too much. 

The pizza arrives a minute after she does, and Sterling has laid out more snacks and popcorn than April imagines the two of them could ever eat, and it must be obvious that she’s lost in thought because Sterling has to take her elbow and steer her towards the couch. It takes everything she has to convince herself that the physical contact doesn’t mean anything to her, and she hasn’t missed the warmth of Sterling’s touch at all. 

“You okay?”

“Yeah, I’m- how come you didn’t go to Franklin’s party?” 

Sterling, less clueless than she was aged eleven, more tuned into April, allows the change of subject and shrugs. 

“I guess I just didn’t feel like it. Blair was so stoked, and so cute, I don’t know if you saw her costume but she looks like, adorable. But I just… couldn’t manage to get excited about it. It sucks, too, because I always loved Halloween but the idea of being at a party with everyone from school just seemed like the least appealing thing in the world.”

“So you decided to stay home and what, watch horror movies alone?”

“No. I decided to stay home and watch horror movies with you.”

It seemed, 45 minutes ago, like inviting April over had been a last minute decision, but the way Sterling says ‘you’, with such grounded confidence, makes her wonder how long her almost friend has been thinking about this. 

“How did you know I wouldn’t be busy?”

“Well, I figured. I don’t know, I mean, you don’t really do Halloween, right?” Sterling whispers it, like she doesn’t want the ghost she’s convinced herself is in the house to overhear a secret that it took Sterling herself seven years too long to work out. “Unless I’m wrong. I just thought… you never go to parties and you didn’t trick or treat when were kids? And somehow Blair was the only person to know about your family traditions and that was super weird and suspicious and, I mean, it’s cool if I’m wrong but I thought maybe you like, weren’t allowed. Or something?” Sterling lets out a breath just as April sucks hers in. 

“No, I was never allowed. My dad believes that Halloween is, y’know, devil worship or whatever. Spends every year ranting about how everyone claims to be good Christians but they allow their children to dress up as witches and ghosts, and- whatever. No, I wasn’t allowed.” 

“And you told Blair that?”

“I think she figured it out, actually. You invited me trick or treating once but I didn’t want to have to explain why I couldn’t. She, I don’t know, she saw that I was uncomfortable and made excuses for me.” 

“I’m sorry I didn’t see that you weren’t okay. Sorry that I,” if it wasn’t for the deep sigh that accompanies it, April isn’t even sure she’d make the connection between what Sterling is saying and what she really means, “sorry that I tried to push you.” 

Maybe it’s not what almost friends do, but April reaches over to take Sterling’s hand anyway. 

“I should’ve just talked to you. And it’s in the past, we’re here now and we- it’s fine, right?”

“Right.”

“So… this does mean I’ve never actually seen any horror movies at all. Any. Not even the ones that aren’t actually scary. I have no idea if I’m going to be terrified or be fine or what. I do know that my pizza is getting cold, and I also know that I’m trusting your judgment tonight.” 

“Right! Pizza. Movie. The actual reason I invited you over. Let’s go!” 

April is not, as it turns out, afraid of horror movies at all. She’s not afraid of the ‘beginner’ movie that Sterling chooses, and she’s not afraid of the ones that have Sterling so terrified that she practically bruises April’s arm holding on to her. 

She is, however, terrified of the way it feels when Sterling falls asleep with her head on April’s shoulder. 

  
————

  
"I’m thinking of hosting a Halloween party this year.” 

April is nearly twenty-three, and it’s taken her three weeks to finally say those words aloud, but it’s worth the wait for the way Sterling’s eyes are shining when they open. 

They’re not almost friends anymore, they’re not even in the almost girlfriends stage they stayed in through most of college, they’re real, actual girlfriends who just moved in together and by “I’m thinking of hosting a Halloween party”, what April really means is “can we throw a Halloween party?” 

Halloween is a Friday this year, so the party is technically on the 1st. They have an unspoken rule that the actual day is reserved for pizza and movies and it’s funny the way that Blair’s lie from all those years ago, about October 31st being for family, has turned out to be true.

**Author's Note:**

> come yell with me on Twitter @aprilphtevens


End file.
